Kylie Jenner’s $50 Million Fantasy Bra Split Fans and Lifted Victoria’s Secret Stock

LOS ANGELES — The Fantasy Bra came back. For the first time since 2018, Victoria’s Secret put its diamond showpiece on the runway at Sunday’s show at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, and it didn’t go to a career Angel. It went to Kylie Jenner, walking her first Victoria’s Secret show (Vogue; Seeking Alpha).

The piece is the most expensive Fantasy Bra yet: $50 million, built with Jacob & Co. from 4,410 natural diamonds around a 75.54-carat Fancy Vivid yellow diamond. Vogue reports it took 15 craftspeople more than 1,000 hours, and that the price beats the old record by some $35 million.

The fans: not exactly dreamy

USA Today reports online viewers and fans “were not exactly thrilled” about Jenner wearing a piece that has historically gone to longtime Angels. The roll call is long: Claudia Schiffer wore the first one in 1996, and Adriana Lima, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen and Elsa Hosk have all worn it (Her Campus).

The split showed up under the night’s most-shared clip, a nine-second front-row video of Timothée Chalamet cheering. The LA Globe counted 1,986,882 views by Monday, and reported that the two most-liked replies were skeptics: “This is embarrassing for VS.” and “She shouldn’t be there.” Fans answered right behind them.

Why Victoria’s Secret picked her

The brand says the choice was the point. Chief creative officer Adam Selman told Vogue:

“Kylie really extends beyond fashion, beyond culture, beyond TV, beyond one singular thing.”

— Adam Selman, Victoria’s Secret chief creative officer, to Vogue (via Her Campus)

Jenner, in a behind-the-scenes YouTube vlog that passed 3 million views, said the brand asked her “months” ago (SI Lifestyle):

“I grew up watching the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows, and of course, how could anyone say no?”

— Kylie Jenner, in her YouTube vlog (via SI Lifestyle)

Wall Street: loved it

Barron’s reported the stock rose about 4% after the show, its biggest one-day rise in two years (MediaPost). By the Monday close it had settled at $89.98, up 3.02% from $87.34 (BestStocks). Barclays put it plainly in a Monday note:

“What stood out most to us was how closely the show resembled the Victoria’s Secret of the past. In our view, the event was another tangible proof point that VSXY is returning to the core heritage.”

— Barclays analysts, via Barron’s

• Barclays raised its price target to $112 from $106 and kept an Overweight rating (TipRanks/TheFly).
• Morgan Stanley’s Alex Straton raised his to $104 from $101 (BestStocks).
• Per Barron’s via MediaPost: the marketing campaign started seven months out instead of three, nearly tripling Instagram posts about the show, and 17 times as many items were directly shoppable.
• The ticker is now VSXY. Earlier this year the company changed it from VSCO (MediaPost).

The critics: ‘as if the past seven years didn’t happen’

Not everyone read the throwback as progress. New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman wrote, “It’s almost as if the past seven years didn’t happen,” as quoted by MediaPost.

Our take

Both camps are right, and that’s the business. The Fantasy Bra used to be a promotion you earned after years on the runway. This year it was a booking for reach, and the market paid for the reach. Fans who grew up on the Angels are allowed to be annoyed, and shareholders are allowed to be happy. The question for the rest of the industry is what this tells working models about how the next big break gets handed out.

We’ve been on this beat all week: the Angels who didn’t make the cut, whether Victoria’s Secret stopped scouting, the fashion internet’s verdict, and the mom who made her LA debut the night before.

Discuss this on the forum

Should the Fantasy Bra go to a career Angel, or to whoever moves the most attention? Discuss this on the forum.

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